Altman says OpenAI will undercut Anthropic’s AI pricing by 75%

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took direct aim at rival Anthropic on Tuesday, posting on X that GPT-5.6 Sol "is half the price and ~twice as token efficient as fable in many cases for accomplishing the same task," adding he would be "happy to deliver at one-quarter of the price."digg+1

The provocation comes as the two largest U.S.-based AI companies jostle for enterprise customers. GPT-5.6 Sol, which OpenAI launched publicly on July 8, is priced at $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens. Anthropic's Claude Fable 5, released in June, costs $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens — making Sol already half the price on inputs and roughly 40 percent cheaper on outputs.openai+2

Escalation After Months of Tension

Altman's post was not spontaneous. The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 2.42% reported in June that OpenAI was "contemplating major decreases in the fees it charges for tokens" in anticipation of comparable reductions from Anthropic. Altman himself acknowledged at the time that AI costs had become "a huge issue" for customers.cnbc+1

OpenAI had already undercut Anthropic with its GPT-5.6 pricing structure. In a CNBC interview on July 9, Altman said Sol is "54% more token efficient on agentic coding tasks" than competing models. On benchmarks, OpenAI claims Sol outperforms Claude Fable 5 by 13.1 points on Agents' Last Exam, an evaluation of professional workflows.cnbc+1

A Market Under Pressure

The pricing battle unfolds as both companies prepare for potential initial public offerings. Anthropic's valuation reached $965 billion following a Series H round in May 2026, while OpenAI's most recent private valuation stands at $852 billion. Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI in reported annualized revenue, claiming a $47 billion run rate compared with OpenAI's $25 billion to $33 billion.fortune+1

Yet profitability remains elusive for both. OpenAI lost $3.7 billion in a single quarter against $5.7 billion in revenue, and any sustained price war would deepen those losses. Bloomberg Opinion noted in June that such a conflict "would be brutal for both companies".sentisight+1

Whether Anthropic responds with its own price cuts remains to be seen. Altman appeared to relish the asymmetry, posting his challenge from the Sun Valley conference where, according to one report, "everyone wants to know" about AI pricing. Anthropic has not publicly responded.aol